The stored-value card Washington, D.C.'s mass-transit system will begin selling Friday, Nov. 21, 2008 to commemorate President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration.
by Frank James
Many people who live and work in the Washington, D.C. area have been closely following stories in the local media about what we're likely to face on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009.
There are estimates that as many as four million people will descend on downtown Washington to try and witness history, to see either the inauguration of the first African-American president or the parade to the White House.
For those who have to work that day and don't live right downtown or are used to driving in and don't have a hotel room or space at a friend's house lined up, the question has been "How do I get downtown that day?"
Fortunately, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority which runs the city's mass transit system said today that it will run the city's subway and bus system on a rush- hour basis from 4 am to 7 pm.
And they unveiled a new commemorative SmarTrip card bearing President-elect Barack Obama's photo that will be available starting Friday. But they're likely to go fast since only 35,000 of them will be produced. I'm guessing there'll be huge demand for them to print up more of those hard-plastic cards.
The Washington Post's "Inauguration Watch" has these details:
Metro is expecting to move 1.6 million people on rail and bus on Inauguration Day, which would double the previous high of 854,638 (rail only) on July 11. The authority will issue 35,000 SmarTrip commemorative cards with a picture of Barack Obama, which can be purchased for $10 apiece on a special Web site that will be set up Friday and can be found by going to www.wmata.com. (Regular fare cards also will feature Obama.) Commuters can then add value to the cards, which will come with no value, at the stations, and move quickly through the fare gates.
Catoe said people trying to get into train stations after the parade could face delays of "up to a couple hours" at the end of the day. Metro is encouraging people to spread out their trips after the events are over by visiting downtown museums or grabbing something to eat.
Worth noting is that the number of people Metro expects to move that day is actually more than the 1.2 million people who showed up for President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 inaugural, the biggest inauguration crowd on record.
According to a Post story from earlier this week, city officials are sure they can pull off the Obama inaugural with all its expected teeming masses.
District and federal officials... expressed confidence that they can handle this January's events. At the same time, they know that Inauguration Day 2009 will be one of a kind.
For example, (Mayor Adrian) Fenty said, officials expect people to camp overnight, starting Jan. 19, to get as close as possible to the swearing-in viewing area and parade route.
The next several weeks will be spent figuring out how to change the comprehensive playbook that has been used in the past.
"We have a great blueprint from years past, and we will follow that," the mayor said. "But we will start to make exceptions and deviations because, by everyone's estimation, we will have crowds that will be two, three, maybe even four times as large as the largest inaugural. . . . One of the biggest exceptions would be to open up the Mall."
Officials are talking about opening large sections of the Mall east of the Washington Monument, a space normally used for staging the many components of the inaugural parade, Fenty said. That would make the Mall a viewing area that experts said could accommodate several million people -- significantly more than in the past. Officials have not said where the parade groups will gather instead.
Comments
At what time will the event begin that day?
Posted by: Heron | November 20, 2008 6:09 PM